Quadrocopter!

[Xyver]

I've been thinking long and hard about my next project and decided that it should be a quadrocopter   I've been thinking and I dont want it to be autonomous or anything, I just want it to hover by itself, or be controlled via and RC controller.  I've built the 50$ robot, so I have a little experience. Plus this is RC not autonomous, so it should be easier... Right?  But, I was wondering if modified servos can spin fast enough for lift?  Or do you need DC motors and speed controllers? And how big should it be?  The main thing I want to use it for is to carry a camera, and the one i was thinking was this one:  http://www.goprocamera.com/index.php?area=2&productid=27.  Its 139 grams, so I'm hoping to be able to carry a payload of  about 300 grams, just to be safe. Maybe 500g.  How big do you think it'll be?
Thank you for reading
Xyver

[SmAsH]

First off, servos, no. You want brushless dc motors with speed controllers.
So, you want it to auto balance itself but you control it?
And the weight it can carry safely will depend on how strong the motors are/how much the whole thing weighs itself.

By the sounds of things, you haven't done much research?
You will need to do LOTS for this kind of project, it is a very complicated project, just to get it flying is hard. But if you can do it, great!

[waltr]

Xyver,
SmAsh is correct.
There are a number of quadcopter threads here on SoR and they have links to other quadcopter info. Look through the search the SoR forum for some good info. One thread has a link to videos from a quadcopter. Great stuff.

There are also people on the Sparkfun forum building Quadcopters so check in there:
http://forum.sparkfun.com/

[Razor Concepts]

Learn how to fly RC helicopters first. Trust me, you will need it    It is much harder than people think. Without experience, its like trying to build a formula 1 racecar when you don't even have your drivers license.

[madsci1016]

As someone who is trying to learn to fly both an RC airplane and helicopter right now, I have to agree, you NEED to learn to fly a helicopter first before building your own. You will overlook so many things if you don't already have a understanding of all the little things that make flying platform work well.

I bought this helicopter, and would recommend it to anyone who is trying to learn.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXXVP7**&P=7

It's $100, but it is a real 4 channel helicopter, which is important to get. Any less channels and it's not a 'real' helicopter with full movement control. It's also quite durable (I crashed it many, many times) and spare parts are cheap, for when you do take that first landing too hard. It is small enough to fly around indoors, but can be taken outside if there is no wind.